More Activision Game Remasters Are Likely After Crash N. Sane Trilogy Beats All Expectations

The success of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is no secret, as it's topped numerous sales charts since its release in late June. During a post-earnings conference call with investors, Activision Blizzard discussed the game's performance and the possibility of more remasters from the company--and the odds sure sound good.

Responding to a question about what Crash's success could mean, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said, "We knew that there was a passionate audience out there for Crash--full disclosure, myself among them--but we had no idea... it's hard to tell if that's a vocal minority or that's a real mass audience until you put something out there. Crash has surpassed all of our expectations by a pretty wide margin."

Gallery

Without revealing any sales figures, Hirshberg then noted how well N. Sane Trilogy has performed. It was the world's top-selling console game in June even though it was only released on the second-to-last day of the month, and we learned today that it was the top-selling PS4 game on PSN in the US and Europe.

And while there's likely something to be gleaned from the success N. Sane Trilogy has enjoyed, Hirshberg argued that remasters are not an entirely new space for Activision. "I think this is just another example of us really listening to our communities and our fans and offering them great content where they want to engage, which is one of our core strategies," he said. "We think we have other great IP in our portfolio that we're considering, of course, but this isn't new behavior for us. We've already shown the power that is Modern Warfare Remastered [and] Zombies Chronicles, and Crash Bandicoot is obviously another great example.

"So this is a strategy that clearly has our attention, and while there are no new announcements today, I think you can be confident there will be more activity like this in the future with more great IP. The other opportunity beyond remasters is to look at some of our classic IP and ask whether or not it can be reborn on a new platform, like what we're doing with Skylanders on mobile. Our IP library is an asset that, when done right, can be very powerful."

Activision Blizzard will soon re-release another classic game with StarCraft: Remastered, which is due out on August 14. That version features improved graphics and sound, as well as some modern features (like matchmaking), but its gameplay remains intact. It's priced at $15, while the original version of StarCraft is now permanently available for free.